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History changed on Oct. 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I, the world's first artificial satellite. It was about the size of a beach ball and weighed about 184 pounds. / NASA

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• In June 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

• Initially, there was much debate over whether NASA should be under military or civilian control. Ultimately it was created as a civilian agency.

• When NASA was created, it absorbed the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, its 8,000 employees and its three research laboratories.

• The first American to orbit the Earth was John Glenn in 1962.

• In Russian, Sputnik means “traveling companion.” Laika, the name of the first animal in space, means “barker.”

Thor-Able I, with the Pioneer I spacecraft atop, was the first spacecraft launched by NASA, on Oct. 11, 1958, at what is now Kennedy Space Center in Florida. / NASA

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America’s program to send people into the cold emptiness of space was, in large part, the result of a cold war.

After World War II, the United States found itself in what was known as the Cold War, a period of sustained tension between the nation and the Soviet Union, two countries with vastly different forms of government.

Being a “cold war,” there was little shooting, but there was the constant threat that one superpower would gain an advantage over the other.

Both nations had developed intercontinental ballistic missiles, known as ICBMs, which were rockets made to deliver bombs.

The technology that made ICBMs possible eventually lead to the first spacecraft.

Spies in the skies

The U.S.-Soviet balance of power seemed to change dramatically in favor of the Soviet Union on Oct. 4, 1957, when that country launched Sputnik, a 183-pound craft that became the first object to orbit around Earth. Suddenly, it seemed Russia had the ability to look down on the United States from space.

The Soviet Union followed that success with the launch of Sputnik II on Nov. 3, 1957. That craft was larger than the first satellite and carried a passenger: a dog named Laika, the first animal in orbit.

The United States’ first attempt to respond to the Sputniks did not go well.

On Dec. 6, 1957, on national television, the U.S. tried to launch a Navy Vanguard rocket, but it exploded on the launching pad.

The United States finally was able to respond to the Soviet Union on Jan. 31, 1958, with the launch of Explorer I.

In March, the U.S. successfully launched a Navy Vanguard, which is a tiny satellite — only 6 inches in diameter and weighing less than 3 pounds.

NASA

This so-called “space race” led to the need for a space agency that could research the challenges of space flight and demonstrate American superiority in space.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which provided for research into space flight. Thus was born the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known by its acronym, NASA, which began operations Oct. 1, 1958.

The first NASA flight was 11 days later with the launch of Pioneer I. It was the first of many flights that would help NASA learn more about sending a spacecraft to the moon.

Still, the space race continued. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961. NASA responded with its Mercury program, which, on May 5, 1961, sent Alan B. Shepherd Jr. to become the first American in space.

In all, six Mercury flights confirmed that America could put people into orbit and they allowed the United States to learn valuable information about space flight and its effects on people.

The program paved the way for the later Apollo missions that would place astronauts on the moon. That goal was solidified on May 25, 1961, when President John F. Kennedy made it a goal to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth.